COBOL: The Modern Challenges (pt 2)

IT departments face a multitude of challenges when it comes to working with COBOL programs. Read about eight of those challenges here.

In many cases, companies choose not to re-platform their old programs because of the high costs and tremendous risk involved, preferring instead to hire COBOL programmers to maintain existing code. However, since the information technology field has diversified and changed since the 60s, not as many programmers today are familiar with what they consider “legacy” languages. As a result, there is a knowledge shortage and companies are desperately in need of programmers to understand and maintain what is presently in use. For the new programmers that are brought in to an existing project, working with old programs can be exhausting and time-consuming. The following table is a list of just a few of the modern challenges of working with COBOL.

Problem

Solution

Old programs can be large and complex, as they have been modified over time.